On July 21, the Auburn City Council approved the initial expansion of the city’s automated traffic safety camera program beyond school zones to provide general speed enforcement.

The action also updates the Auburn City Code to square it with recently updated state law that allows cameras in areas that meet state requirements.

“I think this will be something that benefits the city and allows our police officers to be focused on bigger things,” said Councilmember Tracy Taylor before the unanimous vote. “So everyone, follow the law.”

At the June 23 council study session, Public Works Director Ingrid Gaub and Jacob Sweeting, assistant public works director and city engineer, explained why the city is doing this.

“Because of a safety vision and goal that we signed last year to reduce the number of serious injuries and fatal crashes to 30% by 2040, and eventually eliminate them altogether on our streets,” Gaub said.

The initial cameras will be placed later this year and go into effect in early 2026 at the following places:

• 15th Street Northwest between M Street NW and Ron Crockett Drive.

• Auburn Way South between the R Street Bridge and Muckleshoot Plaza SE.

• Lea Hill Road between SE 308th Street and SE 312th Court S.

How we got here

Auburn’s current automated traffic safety program is intended to reduce speeding in school zones and improve overall safety for children, teachers and parents. The need for the program was identified in 2022 when speed studies in 28 different school zones showed that between 7% and 45% of vehicles were significantly exceeding the 20 mph speed limit in active school zones. The program has been successful in reducing non-compliance rates from the initial study in 2022.

The initial average non-compliance rate for the school zones where cameras were installed was 27%. By the end of 2024, with 12 automated traffic safety cameras in place, the average non-compliance rate dropped to under 2%.

In 2024, the Washington State Legislature passed House Bill 2384, updating rules related to automated traffic safety cameras. The changes removed the limitations for agencies like the City of Auburn from only using automated traffic safety cameras in school zones, at railroad crossings, and signalized intersections.

The revised state regulations continue to allow agencies to operate automated traffic safety cameras to enforce speed limits in hospital speed zones, public park speed zones, school speed zones, school walk zones, roadway work zones, and state highways that are classified as city streets (such as Auburn Way South/SR 164). There are no limits to how many speed enforcement cameras agencies may operate in these areas.

In 2024, the city council adopted its first-ever Comprehensive Safety Action Plan and established a vision and goal. The vision is to eventually have no serious injury and fatal crashes on the city’s transportation system. The goal is to reduce serious injuries and fatal crashes by 30% by 2040.

As cities like Auburn identify possible locations, the revisions to state law direct they first demonstrate a need based on one or more of the following criteria: evidence of speeding; rates of collision and near collisions; travel by vulnerable road users; and whether the city had considered workable alternatives. They must also assess their potential affects on livability, accessibility, economics, education, and environmental health in the vicinities.

In the future, according to the revised state regulations, Auburn may operate one additional camera per each 10,000 members of its population, which sums up to nine more, based on the city’s estimated population of 90,000 by 2040.

The Safety Plan

This document provides the basis for the city council to establish prioritized locations for general speed enforcement with the expansion of the city’s automated traffic safety camera program in accordance with state requirements.

In adopting the 2025-2026 biennial budget, the Auburn City Council approved a program improvement to expand the city’s current photo enforcement from being only in school zones to also enforce speeds outside school zones. The budget included implementation of up to three cameras in late 2025 that would be actively enforcing speeds in early 2026.

The analysis must include equity considerations including the impact of the camera placement on livability, accessibility, economics, education and environmental health when identifying where to locate an automated traffic safety camera. The analysis must also show a demonstrated need for traffic cameras based on one or more of the following in the vicinity of the proposed camera location: Travel by vulnerable road users, evidence of vehicles speeding, rates of collision, reports showing near collisions, and anticipated or actual ineffectiveness or infeasibility of other mitigation measures.

The city’s traffic engineering staff of the Public Works Department and the traffic unit of the Auburn Police Department worked together to identify 14 locations to be considered for study. The initial locations were identified based on crash history, speeding complaints, information from the Safety Plan, and previously conducted speed studies as follows:

• Presence on Safety Emphasis Corridor (SEC) as identified in the 2024 Auburn Comprehensive Safety Action Plan

• Presence on High Injury Network (HIN) as identified in the 2025 Draft Regional Safety Action Plan by the Puget Sound Regional Council.

• Conditions making enforcement by traffic police officers difficult (limited space along corridor, high speeds, high volumes, multiple lanes)

• History of crashes and speeding complaints

• Lack of other safety counter measures (lighting, sidewalks, and/or enhanced crossings)

Other evaluation criteria included the posted speed limit, number of lanes, average daily traffic volume, and the roadway classification.